Being Better, Together
By Learning from Excellence and Civility Saves Lives
Being Better, TogetherFeb 28, 2022
Series 2, episode 3: Anna Baverstock on wellbeing.
Dr Anna Baverstock is a consultant in community child health, and also a coach, mediator and schwarz round facilitator. In this conversation, we discuss a range of topics relating to Anna’s work, including definitions of wellbeing; approaches to challenging conversations; mediation in healthcare; differentiating kindness from “niceness”; feedback and radical candour; how to encourage diversity in teams; and much more.
Anna's suggested reading list related to the topics in this conversation:
- Brené Brown - Atlas of the heart
- (Hear Anna's podcast on this book: Atlas of the Heart (buzzsprout.com)
- Kim Scott - Radical Candor
- Stone & Heen - Thanks for the Feedback
- Amy Edmundson - The Fearless Organisation
- Daniel Coyle - The Culture Code
- Marshall Rosenberg - non violent communication
- Amanda Ripley - High Conflict
- Adam Grant - Think Again
- Timothy Clarke - 4 stages of psychological safety
- Trzeciak & Mazzarelli - Compassionomics
Series 2, episode 2: Bob Klaber on kindness in healthcare
In this conversation we touch on a few areas, including:
The work of Professor Leonard Berry in characterising kindness and healthcare, and demonstrating its benefits in terms of patient outcomes.
Why and how we should measure kindess.
The impact of role-modelling on the behaviour of others.
How to tackle unkind behaviours without being hostile.
And much more...
Along the way we draw parallels and shared learning with the work of Learning from Excellence and Civitlity Saves Lives.
Some references from the conversation:
An example of Prof Len Berry's work:
"Getting the measure of kindness", Carnegie UK.
Series 2, episode 1: Janet Leighton on directing happiness.
This episode is a recording of our conversation with Janet Leighton, the "Director of Happiness" at Timpson's. In this conversation, Janet and Adrian discuss the origin of this role and what it involves, as well as many of the initiatives Timpsons have put in place to support their staff. They also discuss the Happy Index: Timpson's only Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Although Timpson's is a private company, we think there is much we can learn and apply from their approach to working in the NHS. It is clear that Timspons's promote staff autonomy, recognise and appreciate success, and offer support to staff during challenging times. It sounds like a good place to work.
Episode 11: Suzette Woodward on safety in healthcare.
Episode 10: Margaret Moore on coaching in healthcare.
The book referenced by Margaret in the conversation (Coaching in Medical Education) is available here.
Episode 9: Don Berwick on Era 3, community, proximity and listening to youth.
Professor Don Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, KBE, is President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). This podcast episode is a recording of the live conversation with Don from the penultimate session in the #LfE4 conference, October 2021. Don speaks about his career, his reflections on his paper about the three eras of healthcare, and what he thinks we can do to make healthcare better before answering some questions posed by the audience.
Here are some links to some of the content from the conversation:
The Moral Determinants of Health
Dr W Edwards Deming's red bead experiment
Episode 8: Lindsey Godwin on the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, and its application in healthcare
Professor Lindsey Godwin is the Robert P. Stiller Chair of Management & the Academic Director of the Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry at Champlain College. She describes herself as a professor, a practioner and a possibilitizer! In this conversation we discuss the theoretical principles behind the practice and philosophy of Appreciative Inquiry. Lindsey also offers her definition of Appreciate Inquiry, and busts the myth that it is all about the positive - indeed, it is best used as a methodology to face our challenges.
Episode 7: Dhruv Parekh on lessons learned from working in ICU during the COVID19 pandemic.
Dr Dhruv Parekh is a consultant intensivist at University Hospitals Birmingham and a senior clinical lecturer at the University of Birmingham.
In this conversation Dhruv reflects on the experience of working in one of the largest ICUs in Europe during the COVID19 pandemic. We discuss how preparations were made; the initial energy and excitement; the shock and disbelief at the rapidity of onset; the emotional impact of caring for a huge workload of sick patients, many of whom died; thoughts on effective leadership in times of crisis; the changes and innovations which worked well – including a novel approach to team working and task completion, and an award-winning family liaison service; what can be achieved when everyone is pulling together; staff experience and wellbeing. We also briefly discuss Dhruv’s role in inspiring the LfE movement several years ago.
Episode 6: Frank Turner on songwriting, optimism and kindness.
Frank Turner's music features heavily in our #LfE conference playlists. We find his music inspiring and we were delighted that Frank agreed to record this conversation with us, and record a live version of his song, "Be More Kind" for our #LfE4 conference in October 2021. In this conversation we discuss the origins of Frank's music, including how the writings of Clive James inspired the song, "Be More Kind". We also discuss how optimism and hope are embedded in his music, and the role of music in healthcare and helping us deal with trauma. The conversation was recorded in Frank's garden in the Summer of 2021, so there is some transient wind-noise in the audio (deep rumbling) and the occasional passing insect and aircraft! Some musical references from the conversation: Be More Kind - the live version I refer to in the conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_nbdq2ckOw Little Changes official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjc9UJk2v6w Get it right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlKy9LDUTrA The hymn of the medical oddity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZon7isGNsc Frank's choice of "theme tune": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jI9I03q8E
Episode 5: Hena Syed-Sabir on psychological support for healthcare staff, debriefing, silence, spaces for listening and moral distress.
Dr Hena Syed-Sabir is a clinical psychologist at Paediatric Intensive Care at Birmingham Children's Hospital. In this conversation we discuss the growing recognition of the need for psychological support for healthcare staff and the concept of debriefing and its various applications in healthcare staff who have experienced trauma. Hena explains the practicalities of debriefing, including the use of vitual debriefs, and the role of silence and spaces for listening. We discuss the use of "naming" emotional experiences in debrief and in everyday professional conversations, and how this may help with processing emotions. We reflect on the range of responses to trauma in our own practice, how this can manifest in changes in our own behaviours, the growing prevalence of moral distress, and secondary trauma associated with adverse safety events.
Hena's choice of theme tune: https://youtu.be/aENX1Sf3fgQ
Episode 4: Dr Glaucomflecken on comedy and laughter in healthcare
Dr Will Flanary is an ophthalmologist and a comedian. Over the last few years, Will's alter ego, "Dr Glaucomflecken" has taken social media by storm with a wealth of comedy sketches making light of a wide variety of situations in which we work in healthcare. In this conversation, we discuss the origins of Dr Glaucomflecken; the impact of positive feedback on how we feel and how we perform; the role of laughter and comedy in healthcare; and what makes for appropriate humour in our work.
Below is a list of some of the references from the conversation:
Lady G's takeover for father's day: https://twitter.com/DGlaucomflecken/status/1406689639566479360
Dr G's first descents fundraiser page: https://support.firstdescents.org/fundraiser/3183636
Dr G's comedy page: https://www.drgcomedy.com/
Episode 3: Alex Gillespie on compliments in healthcare, gratitude, leadership, and interdependence.
In this episode, we are joined in conversation by Dr Alex Gillespie. Alex is a social psychologist at the London School of Economics. We came across Alex's work when we read the paper he co-authored with Dr Tom Reader describing an analysis of compliment letters received by Hospitals in the NHS. The concept of looking for insights from positive feedback is entirely on message with the LfE mission, and we were delighted when Alex agreed to talk with us about his work. In this conversation we discuss the motivation behind the paper, the findings and implications of the study, the concept of gratitude, the interdependent nature of human society and much more. An abridged recording of this conversation was played at the #LfE4 conference in October 2021.
Episode 2: Barney Scholefield and the 909 club
This episode is a recording of our conversation with Dr Barney Scholefield. Barney is a paediatric intensivist in Birmingham, and an academic at the university of Birmingham. During the first COVID waves, Barney hosted a daily Zoom meeting for all staff in the department. There was no explicit agenda - the meeting was a voluntary coming together of colleagues from across the whole department. We shared information, worries, laughter, music and even photography. It was informal peer support, and also a portal for timely news and important announcements. It was the best meeting of every day, and one of the best things to come out of the pandemic. In this interview, Barney explains how the meeting originated and how he implemented it. Barney also wrote a blog post about the initiative on the LfE website.
(Recorded Sept 2021)
Episode 1: Camilla Kingdon on intelligent kindness, civility, ubuntu, compassionate leadership, wellbeing, and rediscovery.
Dr Camilla Kingdon is a consultant neonatologist, and the current president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). In this interview we discuss Camilla's plans as RCPCH president; how to handle unprofessional behaviours and incivility; the concept of intelligent kindness; the negativity bias; Desmond Tutu and the concept of Ubuntu; compassionate leadership; wellbeing; and the importance of rediscovering and reconnecting with our original motivations to do the work we do. An abridged recording of this conversation was played at the #LfE4 conference in October 2021.